Don’t Be a Kept Man

Chapter 164: Class Reunion

There was a phone silently lying on a Nordic style marble circular table1 and its light vibrations, from the occasional messages coming through, buzzed in the quiet living room for a very long time, which was a bit noisy compared to its quiet surroundings.

A man walked out of the shower, his hand with its beautiful and clear bone structure pressed down the mute button.2 He glanced over the notifications before grabbing some clothes out of his closet to change into. He meticulously buttoned his shirt up all the way to the collar and then smoothed it down. His actions were solemn and serious, not missing a single button.

He stared at the mirror, fixing up his slightly messy hair with an emotionless face. The detached and inhuman aura that he emitted suppressed his peach blossom eyes3 that would have otherwise made him a Casanova. His pupils were a light tea color, which brought on an uncontainable coldness about him, and no human emotion could be seen from him.

Yu Xi had just come back from the movie theatre, sashaying in her high heels as she walked down the hallway. She was just preparing to dig out her keys to open the door when she heard a click and her neighbour who had not left his apartment for more than half a month had suddenly and miraculously stepped out the door.

“Omona, what a rare sight,” 

Yu Xi paused her footsteps and tilted her head slightly as the keys around her delicate and tiny fingers swung around in a circle. Scanning up and down his body, she said, 

“Gu Lai, where are you going so late at night wearing such formal clothes? A date?”

“No, for a university meetup.”

The man looked very standoffish, but his voice was unexpectedly warm as he gave a reply in a very serious and solemn manner.

A spark of interest lit up in Yu Xi, and as someone who liked to party, she said, 

“For real? We went to the same university, how did I not know there was a meetup? Bring me with you.”

They were fellow graduates so it shouldn’t be a problem.

Gu Lai thought about it and then nodded his head, 

“Alright.”

Yu Xi became delighted and slapped his shoulder hard, 

“A true friend. Even though you tripped and fell, hit your head and even got hospitalized, don’t worry, I’ll protect you!”

The two of them stepped into the elevator where the decorative round-cornered square mirror with frosted glass reflected back their blurry faces. Yu Xi leaned against the railing and took out a cushion foundation to fix up her makeup. Taking a glance at Gu Lai standing to the side, with his side profile shadowed by the bright light above, he was like……

Like a robot without any emotions.

Yu Xi couldn’t help but say something, trying to find something to talk about, 

“Gu Lai, you really don’t remember anything?”

Gu Lai tilted his body slightly to look at her, showing that he was listening, a sign of his undeniable politeness, and answered in all seriousness, 

“Mhmm.”

Yu Xi felt that he had changed quite a lot, but she couldn’t say whether it was good or bad so she casually said, 

“No worries, a concussion right? It is quite normal to not recall memories. It should get better after a while. Oh yes, that’s right, have you found a new job yet?”

She and Gu Lai had been students at the same university but with different focuses. After they graduated, they coincidentally lived in the same community area, and it just so happened that they became neighbors. A while ago, Gu Lai had partnered with someone to start a business but then he had gotten swindled out of quite a bit of money. He got into a physical fight with the other and during the fight had fallen down the stairs, concussing his brain to the point where he didn’t recognize anyone.

Towards someone’s kind attention and care, one must always express gratitude.

Hearing this, a smile reached Gu Lai’s light colored eyes and he said,

“Thank you, I’ve already found one.”

Yu Xi suddenly became heartstruck by that smile, making her heart beat a little faster. She flipped her dark brown curly hair over her shoulder and then rolled her eyes, saying, 

“You don’t even like girls. Go seduce guys, not me.”

The two of them had been quite notorious at their university, being labeled infamous Casanovas, where numerous good looking men had either fallen into Gu Lai or Yu Xi’s hands. And they were ones who, once bored, kicked them away and found another one, those kind of scumbags that roamed the earth.

Yu Xi did not know that the core of Gu Lai had been swapped out, only thinking that he was getting really good at pretending. She seductively smiled, 

“Handsome lad, I don’t have a car. You wouldn’t mind me leeching off a ride off of you, would you?”

“Sure, we should be helping each other.”

Gu Lai’s car couldn’t be considered expensive, within the ten thousand range, and having been sitting unused in the parking garage for a while, there was a layer of dust. He had a Bentley before, but when his business failed, it had been taken to help repay his debt.

Yu Xi sat in the passenger seat, crossing her legs in a way that did not belie her notoriety as a deplorable Casanova, 

“You were always arrogant, never willing to work under someone. But those days are too rough. Find someone to leech off of and your days would become so much easier, hmm.”

“Don’t forget your seatbelt.”

Gu Lai didn’t respond to her and started up the car. His speed was very safe, at the perfect speed where you wouldn’t feel any bumps, and it was as if he was able to predict the roads, always just getting to a green light. Throughout the entire ride, he kept this up, driving at a very comfortable pace and speed.

Yu Xi jutted her chin up and said, 

“Who organized the meetup? It’s been so many years since we’ve graduated, I don’t even remember who is who. I wonder if there are even any handsome guys.”

Gu Lai couldn’t answer her question as he had not inherited any memories from the original Gu Lai. The lights from the cars outside shone in from the windows and illuminated his dark eyes with a beautiful shine.

Whoever set up the reunion had set it in a bar, which could be considered a higher class location in the city, and 99% of the cars parked outside were expensive, high class cars. Yu Xi’s eyes swept through them all and her heart started to get ambitious, 

“Wow-wo, what should I do? I want to find a boyfriend now.”

Gu Lai parked the car and got out, walking to the other side. He very gentlemanly opened the door for her, and reminded her in all seriousness, 

“You just started a relationship five days ago.”

“Already broke up. Let’s go. Which private room?”

Yu Xi shrugged uncaringly and reached over, wanting to hold onto Gu Lai’s arm but was instead lightly avoided by the latter. Her eyebrows lightly rose up, feeling a bit curious, 

“What’s up?”

Gu Lai explained with all seriousness, 

“We are not girlfriend and boyfriend.”

It was the first time the system was a human so it didn’t really know the rules of this world. But it faintly knew that it wasn’t too good to do that.

Yu Xi said with delight, 

“Hey, you became good?”

As they walked into the bar, a waiter immediately greeted them. Gu Lai took a look at the information on his phone and reported a room number and they were led up to the second floor.

The waiter bowed and opened the door for them, 

“If there is anything you need, you can ring the bell.”

“Thank you.”

There was air conditioning in the room, which made it very refreshingly cold. Real leather sofas formed a ring and the design of this room was a very bold black and blue. The light inside was selected to be three degrees dimmer and with faint blue light cascading down, they could clearly see that there were already people who had arrived. They were all handsome, all with looks that were above average, and it could make anyone content to stare at them all. They were very quiet as they sat around the sofas, not bothering each other, and it seemed only Gu Lai’s entrance broke this calmness.

The moment the door opened, everyone looked over subconsciously. When they found that it was Gu Lai, their eyes all suddenly went through a very slight, indecipherable change, and immediately silence reigned where a pin dropping onto the floor could be heard.

A man in a well fitted suit and leather shoes was sitting in the middle and was boredly playing with the silver lighter in his hand, the expression on his face hard to describe. After a moment, he lightly chucked, breaking up the silence, 

“Oh, a rare guest.”

A thick tone of mocking was at the end of his words.

Yu Xi glanced at the expensive diamond watch on his hand and then at his face before lightly prodding Gu Lai behind her. She whispered, 

“Ah ah ah, it’s Nie Sui Chuan, your ex.”

She always had a good memory for handsome guys.

Gu Lai sat down by the corner sofa, his expression very calm as he quietly asked Yu Xi, 

“Is there anything I should do when I meet my ex?”

His tone was so serious that it made Yu Xi unable to believe that he was joking. She stared at Gu Lai’s earnest inquiring eyes and advised honestly, 

“You don’t need to do anything. Just maintain the same open attitude as you have now and  don’t ever mess with them.”

From the moment she stepped through the doorway, Yu Xi knew she came to the wrong place. What university meetup; this was obviously a meeting of the exes.

Gu Lai felt that Nie Sui Chuan kept glaring at him, 

“Should I apologize to him?”

“Please don’t,” Yu Xi held onto him, “did you forget that when you broke up, you were beaten up to the point where you had to go to the hospital. Don’t go near him.”

“……Ok.”

Gu Lai quietly sat there for a moment before spotting a fruit platter on the table. There was a plate of watermelon cut into the shape of rabbits on the beautiful glass table, with its flesh a bright red and looking very sweet. There were a few unknown brands of western wines by it, their color a bright and beautiful red.

The system had no taste buds before so he had never eaten watermelon before.

Gu Lai stared at that fruit platter for a long time. When he found that no one was making a move towards it, he finally reached out hesitantly and grabbed a slice of watermelon. He paused a bit before taking a test bite.

A bit gritty, a bit sweet, a taste it had never tasted before.

Human food is very tasty.

Gu Lai wiggled his mouth and then took another bite. He chewed very slowly and tasted it carefully, looking as if he was at a very fine dining experience at a fancy French restaurant with just a tiny piece of watermelon. When he was done, he used a napkin to carefully wipe his hands. When he tried to find a garbage can, he found that there was a man not far away just looking at him.

With a delicate face, porcelain skin tone, wide eyes, and a timid expression, he looked very weak and easily bullied, and also someone Gu Lai couldn’t remember. But based on the principle of being friendly, he passed over a piece of watermelon and asked, 

“Do you want some?”

Who knew that his actions would make the other’s eyes redden and without making a sound, the other’s eyes were slowly misting up, looking about as if he was going to cry.

Yu Xi had just been scrolling through her feed when she lifted her head and was greeted by this sight. When her senses came back to earth, she quickly pulled Gu Lai away and hastily but quietly said, 

“Told you not to interact with them. You should know that Yang Mian’s brain is missing a few brain cells. Always following behind you day in and day out, like a ghost that you can’t get rid off. Crying is all he can do. You’ll never get rid of him again.”

Gu Lai’s tea colored eyes were a bit confused.

Only then did Yu Xi recall that his brain was a little haywire too. She helplessly held up her own forehead as she said, 

“Who organized this meetup? It was very obviously targeted towards you. I’m going to leave first. Take care of yourself.”

And then she patted his shoulder and grabbed her bag before quickly taking her leave.

Gu Lai didn’t move as socialization was a necessary activity of humans. Since he was now a human, he must learn to adapt. So he only continued to bury himself in eating watermelon. Seeing this, the expression on Yang Mian’s face was very complicated. He anxiously grabbed onto the edge of his shirt and said, 

“Ah-Lai4, I heard that you were admitted to the hospital a while back. Are you okay?”

Gu Lai smiled and said, 

“Thank you. I’m fine now.”

Yang Mian wanted to say more but Nie Sui Chuan suddenly looked over and said with a very meaningful tone,

“A good horse will never turn around to graze on an old pasture; don’t go back on the road you walked on.5 I heard you’ve become an assistant professor at Z University. With this kind of feeble attitude, how could you ever manage your students.”

Because of Nie Sui Chuan’s words, the conversation at hand somehow got into what everyone was doing. Some of them had created their own gaming company whereas some have become software providers. Yang Mian had returned back to his alma mater to become a professor, and as for Nie Sui Chuan, he was the current CEO of Tian Qi Corporation Group.

When everyone was quietly exchanging words, only Gu Lai was silent. All his enthusiasm was focused on that fruit platter on the table.

Under the bright illuminating lights, there sat a man in the corner where most of his body was hidden in the shadows. Wearing a casual, white, high-collared tee and a thin silver chain around his neck, he did not look very old. He sat in the corner with a glass of wine in his hands, its dark red liquid casting a tint on his pale white fingers.

“How about you?”

That man lifted his head, the smile on his lips very deep, as he asked,

“Gu Lai, what are you doing now?”

Gu Lai reflexively lifted his eyes and looked at him, 

“Me?”

The man closed his eyes and nodded as a layer of dark blue shadow fell onto his shoulders from the light, his expression mysterious and undecipherable.

Facing up towards the stares of everyone around him, Gu Lai smoothed out the wrinkles on the ends of his sleeves and answered in all seriousness, 

“Do you know the area Huang Yi Yin Xiang is developing?”

The man had quite the interest and raised up his eyebrows, 

“Real estate?”

Gu Lai: “No, I’m a construction worker nearby.”